Israel Police Criticism by Parliamentary Group for “offensive” Treatment of Detainees

August 6, 1951

TEL AVIV (Aug. 5)

Police treatment of members, of a religious underground arrested and detained last June in connection with a plot to bomb the Parliament was severely criticized in a report of a seven-member Parliamentary investigation committee made public hers last night.

The committee, composed of the representatives of the six largest parties is the last Kneeset, described the treatment accorded the religious prisoners as “unlawful and offensive to detainees and to human decency,” Its report added that “in many cases the measures were unjust and debasing–intolerable in the state of Israel.” While the entire committee agreed that the treatment accorded the detainees was unjust, it was divided on whether the police command could be blamed for the situation.